Moreover, it was just more feasible to plunk down a house somewhere because there just werent as many homes on account of a smaller population. Knowing the limitations of a newspaper article, I know that he will only be able to show one or two house photos, so I thought that I would highlight a few that we have found, through our research. I don't feel comfortable making that assumption. Marie's great-grandfather, Freeman Pretzinger, built this Sears. If my house is not a kit, where did it come from? Some Home Club homes have deeds from the "Port Newark Lumber and Material Company". Or, perhaps we have background information about it to share with you!Judith. Cindy's research in Delaware County, coupled with my research in Montgomery County, netted at least 200 hundred authenticated houses, but that research was preceded by many hours of searching the streets of Willow Grove, Glenside, and other suburbs, by Karen, Nigel, Sarah, Marie, and Andrew. Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and it's currently estimated that about 70% of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today. These pre-1916 houses are generally considered "catalog houses", not "kit houses". That, still, is only helpful if we can find a plat map online for a subdivision called Tanglewood Estates! Carrying on with Same Name, Different House topic we find that some of the Determining which company manufactured a particular catalog and kit home may require additional research to determine the origin of that home. In fact, the No. Washington D.C. and its nearby suburbs have an unusually rich cache of kit houses stashed away in some of the leafy, well-tended neighborhoods where 1920s houses still shine. Chabot notes that Sears mail-order homes sold before 1916 did not use precut lumber that was stamped with numbers to guide construction. In other cases, the home followed the general design of a Sears house without being an exact duplicate. The best guidebook to the basic history of the Sears Modern Homes program, is the book, Houses By Mail, put out by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and written by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl. Jud Yoho may also have been the designer behind the popular Sears model called the Hollywood. Once delivered, many of these houses were assembled by the new homeowner, relatives, friends and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. The NHPD is the only de-duplicated source for comprehensive data on the publicly supported housing property inventory. The house forms part of the farmstead at the museum.[40]. You can see that La Porte, Indiana is mentioned as one of the "built at" locations: We found four examples of what we believe to be the model No. This was the case with most of the compact pre-1920 Sears houses. That's not shown anywhere for this model, so we can't say for sure if these are examples of the No. 3 in U.S. with, at today's count, 1,963 Sears homes. According to Betcone, the two models that were the top sellers for Sears in 1930 totaled just over 100 houses a year. In areas where the land is already mostly developed and zoned, its not that simple. 5008". From 1931-1942 Sears sold about 5,000 houses altogether. So, I put together a list, but I decided to provide some clarifying background information in that blog post, too-- it's especially intended to help those who might hear the term Craftsman, and think it means Sears House, or who see a 1920s bungalow and wonder if that means that the street is lined with Sears houses, or who find marked lumber in their house, but can't seem to find a match to a Sears model. when you switch jobs, buy a house, and go on an international trip, all Cities with large numbers of documented Sears Modern Homes include: The Carlinville, Illinois, concentration consists of houses bought in bulk by the Standard Oil Company in 1918 to house its mineworkers at a total cost of about US $1 million. Argyles also have a tendency to hide. Also, homes in southern Ohio may have financing documents through the "Norwood Sash and Door Company" of Norwood, Ohio. If any of you have ever been interested in coming to see me do a kit home Lets find out! If my house is not a kit, where did it come from? catalogs for all central and satellite halos down to 10^06 MSun. Another gabled ell farmhouse that we found quite a few of in La Porte, is the No. , such as stamped lumber in the basement or attic, shipping labels on the baseboards and other millwork, or even looking up your deed and records pertaining to the actual home purchase. Looking at the sorry state of Americas rail infrastructure today, this also makes me weep although today theyd just be delivered via truck. However, the streets that are lined with these farmhouse models (and many other houses), are actually in the Lakeview neighborhood so, we imagine that was a mistake in the article. We've found examples from the Wardway, Gordon-Van Tine, Harris Homes, and Ray H. Bennett companies. 306 Highland, Madison, WI. Really, they couldn't find any space in there for the Modern Homes records? One of the things that Marie has done for us, is to perfectly describe our search for Sears houses, as a "badass hobby" that is akin to a "huge historical treasure hunt". Melissa Steel of Patterson Heights in Beaver County said the story about the Sears house in McCandless sparked fond memories of the family next door who lived in one for many years. You can contact Tony by email at tlarussa@triblive.com or via Twitter . Tucker/Crossroads They kept up with it, of course, but it sure has good bones. There are examples of modern homes built based on the design of Sears Modern Home. We found and listed about three houses, I think but didn't really focus on La Porte much more than that day in 2015. That year, the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan, offered the first kit homes through mail order. Thank you for visiting! Later, Sears constructed a second mill in Port Newark, New Jersey and purchased the Norwood Sash and Door Company in Norwood, Ohio. 159. 175 (in 1913). Because lets get real: those adorable and affordable ranchers were only for CERTAIN veterans and their families. In it, they included excerpts from an interview with David S. Betcone, who was the chief architect for Sears at the time. Ive visited New Orleans several times and love the style of the buildings there. However, based on what the experts said in that Atlas Obscura piece, youre most likely to find Sears homes in places where railroad stations once stood (or are lucky to still have) and where Sears factories had a major role on the local economy, like Cincinnati. Ha! Other companies such as Aladdin sold mail-order homes, but thats all they sold, Chabot said. New York ranks fourth on the list with 1,679. I hope you found this informative, and learned that Sears houses come in lots of shapes, sizes, and styles. We have not surveyed all areas of the country equally. He published the design as #466 in his 1912 "Craftsman Bungalows" catalog. But who knows, maybe well see tiny shipping container homes in a museum someday after we take back the rest of the real estate after the revolution. [34], Like the Standard Addition in Carlinville, neighborhoods of Sears houses still hold a sense of identity and community. Here is the catalog image, from the 1911/12 catalog: And here are two examples in La Porte. Welcome to Sears Homes! 159 examples that have a closed pediment in the gable (and a porch style difference). 110 (, 1524 2nd Street, La Porte, Indiana earliest version of the Sears No. June 1, 2022. by etc north vernon covid testing. Rosemary Thornton Our team did some traveling around streets inside Philadelphia, in neighborhoods like Oxford Circle, Rhawnhurst, and Roxborough, to name a few, and added about 43 houses to our list, from these neighborhoods. Other models only appeared for one year. Our home also resembles the Bedford Model # P3249, 1926 (this was not in your listings). Sears could keep manufacturing costs down compared to standard builders and competing catalogs because they had their own manufacturing facilities by then and were able to mass-produce wood, asphalt, insulation material, hardware, and everything else needed to produce a home that wasnt a Habitat for Humanity hut. From that, we have to try to connect all of that to an existing street address. easier. Click to visit. Her parents did not care much for the house and eventually moved back into their original farmhouse. The windows, the kitchen and the bathroom were updated over the years, but it is still very much the house it was when it was built.. This is the Lakeview area where we found most of the examples of the 115, 171, and 159, as well as a number of examples of the No. Posted by ; fort lincoln cemetery obituaries; And it led me to dig a little deeper into the history of my community.. Lara Solonickne, who writes the blog. In their own way, houses with Craftsman-style design elements often managed their own form of ebullient excess such as Modern Home No. They raised four kids in that house, Steel wrote. Chuck Holtzen has joined up with Lara to do research in Illinois, and has been helpful in adding a number of authenticated houses to our list. Their blueprints were based on what was popular at the time and while they werent the first or only company to do mail-order houses, theyre among the most memorable because you could buy damn near anything in their 500+ page catalogs. 1916 Sears Roebuck Modern Homes. People always seemed surprised to learn that Sears sold home kits. Early on, we were joined by Sarah Mullane, who lives in North Tonawanda, New York. 06/16/2022 . Photo from Lake County Assessor. Freestanding suburban or rural homes were more likely to stand alone in undeveloped lots instead of planned tracts that were set aside by federal and state governments and/or builders that had uniformity in mind. TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. [13] Only seven Magnolias are known to be still standing. Sears Lewiston: A Sears Model Home in New Jersey Authenticated Sears Lewiston 261 N. Jackson St., North Plainfield, NJ 1929 This great-looking Sears Lewiston was built in 1929, and used as a model home for Sears after it was built by Anthony P. Raffaniello, and his wife, Helena. It's also possible that some local builder just put together a similar design, to compete with the Sears houses being built in town, but, some of these examples are on blocks of streets that are lined with Sears houses from this early spec offering by Sears. took off, many builders started offering everything from ready-made prehab homes to foundations and blueprints. Click here. [5] Early balloon structures were very basic, to enable home buyers to assemble them independently and also because designers had yet to see the implications the method held.[5]. national database of sears homes. This is a complete list of Sears houses in Aurora (and two in Montgomery that were originally in Aurora). 175, 1911/12 catalog image for the Sears Modern Home No. You usually just left with the clothes on your back and a few trunks, and that was it. As its mail-order catalogs were already sent to millions of homes, Sears had a distinct advantage over other kit-home competitors. Sears offered 370 models over the 32 years it sold houses by catalog. Rockstar, Consistent Trees, and Baryon Mass data from the Generation 3 and Generation 6 VELA Simulations. The first mail order for a Sears house was filled that year. Many of the homes original features remain intact. I see you posted about the origins of Hollywood three years ago! If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. We also find street names that have changed (without our knowing that), or, especially for folks who bought their house in 1930-32 (the waning years of the mortgage program), we find that folks lost their homes during the depression, so we can't pin them down using the 1930 or 1940 census records. I just loved the look of it, she said. Your comment will appear after it has been previewed and approved by the blog author. But articles are so scattered by time, date and location that it is difficult to realize the scope and number of Sears homes here in the Pittsburgh area.. We've seen this in Carlinville, Illinois, and we've seen this with large orders of homes bought from Aladdin and from Gordon-Van Tine. They produced three different product lines based on budget: the high-end Honor Bilt homes, Standard Built homes that were popular with young families, and Simplex Sectional low-budget homes that were mostly used as vacation cottages. Then, we always get a chuckle when the legal description includes things like, "by a large Elm tree" or "100 feet past a stone marker". Theres a whole checklist of signs to look for, such as stamped lumber in the basement or attic, shipping labels on the baseboards and other millwork, or even looking up your deed and records pertaining to the actual home purchase. Among those are: Sears Modern Homes can also be found in historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places: According to Carolyn Fraser's Pulitzer-winning book, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the house that Rose Wilder Lane built for her parents, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder, at Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri was from a Sears kit. Without authentication, however, we can't be 100% certain that this house was ordered from Sears, as numerous kit and non-kit companies offered a very similar model, and these kinds of stories that are passed down over time, often turn out to be mistaken (with the house actually being a model from a different kit company, or simply resembling a model offered by Sears). Please contact me if you would like a free You'll also notice that the No. homes for rent in laplace 70068. national database of sears homes. There was one snippet in the press release that only a couple newspapers reprinted: "Following twelve years of usefulness, one old design was removed from the home catalogue in 1928, as antiquated after having been constructed more than 1700 times, which probably constitutes the world's record for any construction duplication from a single house plan, he [Betcone] says.". Sears Modern Homes are something we totally need to bring back from the past for this. Researching Historic Kit and Plan Book Homes. According to a review written by Mary Ann O'Boyle of Takoma Park, Maryland, her Sears home feels "unabashedly American, the kind of house you see in movies about the good old days" and "allows me to connect with the past". That is unique to Sears. 118 In Columbia, Where are the Sears Houses - February 2023 Edition, The Strange Case of the Wandering Bungalow, DC House Cat Chiming In - Historic Mail-Order Homes, Same Name, Different House Part 2 - From Aurora to the Elmwood, 1926 Sears Special Supplement from AntiqueHome.org. New York state is 4th, with 1,679 houses found. So, I've added an asterisk next to the addresses of these possible No. A Gilded Mansion in Newport Beach, CA (Unreal), Fallen Titan that is Sears department stores. The search for Sears Roebuck houses nationwide was launched in the mid-1970's when the, This was a case of unfortunate timing. The iron strapping itself can be strait or curved, but the curlicue is always there, if it's iron strapping from Sears. By Posted on Mar 10, 2021. national database of sears homes. to you on Flickr or Pinterest. Call me a cynic, but I often wonder why kit houses were not stolen. I learn all kinds of interesting stuff here; thanks! I-79 restrictions begin Wednesday night in Allegheny County, West Deer firefighters respond to bedroom fire, heavy smoke at Poplar Street home, Man shot dead in McKeesport the 4th slaying this week and 5th in a month, Medical examiner IDs man killed in McKeesport shooting, Report on Allegheny County Jail deaths finds no 'trends or common factors' that led to them, Historic Hempfield cemetery seeks volunteers, donors to help care for grounds, 2nd annual 'Restaurant Ramble' features 10 downtown New Kensington eateries, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan actor, dies after brain aneurysm, TV Talk: Mel Brooks History of the World, Part II belatedly arrives on Hulu, Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source, story about a 1922 Sears mail-order home in McCandless, number of those homes are featured on the organizations website. From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. 264B155. Following is a list of Sears Homes enthusiasts who have agreed to share their names with others who might be interested in contacting them by clicking on their name. [37] Similiar references are made to boyhood homes of Richard Nixon and Warren Buffett. Moreover, it was just more feasible to plunk down a house somewhere because there just werent as many homes on account of a smaller population. We just can't say, because we can't access those records. They werent all the 3-bedroom Craftsman ranch style you see throughout Los Angeles or the compact Levittowners in Pennsylvania and Long Island to the east: the Atlanta and Chateau models were probably the great-grandaddy of the modern McMansion, with the Malden model being its odd little cousin that sits in the potato salad at the family reunion, what with the odd arrangement of dormer windows although they arent fake. You usually just left with the clothes on your back and a few trunks, and that was it. I'm not surprised that the Argyle is likely the best seller; it had a long run and was as good-looking as it was practical. While researching the property, Harbst learned it was among the first homes built in the boroughs Homestead Park neighborhood. Sears's use of "balloon style" framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as did previous methods. So this blog has been radio silent for a while now! : Ohio is the state with the largest number, Pennsylvania is the third- highest-ranking state, Prince George's County, MD & Montgomery County, MD. Fabricated houses sold primarily through mail order, Column detail from a Sears Vallonia house, pictured alongside its appearance in the catalog, Modern interpretations of Sears Modern Homes, "Did Sears, Roebuck Sell Homes in Canada? Chabot can help people identify if their home was built from a Sears kit if they provide her with an address of the property through the House Seekers website, which also has links to catalogs produced by the company and other sellers. But the houses don't match any of the designs that Sears sold in their catalogs. My father knew the local builder (Mr. Humphreys) who put the house together. when you switch jobs, buy a house, and go on an international trip, all It mightve been easier to get a job or start a business off the bat compared to the hoops and bureaucracy we have for both these days, but there was no U-Haul or Pods to make moving easier. Local Sears house enthusiast Karen DeJeet, who owns a Hamilton model in Forest Hills and is a member of the Sears House Finder team, has already done much of the work identifying the mail-order homes still standing in the region. Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and its currently estimated that about 70% of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today. Related: Floating Chairs and Texas McMansions | McMansions vs Really Big Houses | Strange Mansion in Carmel, Indiana | What is a Mansion. You roughed it until you found a new place and if you wanted a FOREVER home, you stayed put until it was done being built. Wonderful, Malissa! 1232 click. Here is a year-by-year list of houses as they were advertised in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs. Sears mail-order house kits can often be identified by the shipping labels that were placed on the backside of trim. But, in the case of the early, non pre-cut houses, when we know that a large number of houses were bought by a company (or offered up on spec, by Sears), we sometimes see that special versions were created for these neighborhoods, specifically. Our research team especially loves searching Pennsylvania for Sears houses because there are so many there, Chabot said. Spatial information is available through GIS downloads or can be viewed in the BIOS Viewer. I think the reason the Sears house is so interesting is that most people associate them with the Wish Book catalog that came in the mail at Christmas. Sears provided "capital and materials", on the condition that lots and foundations were already in place. that was $886 in 1940 dollars, about $16,000 today. Tailor the data to your community to help preserve your local assets or explore national data to better understand the need for affordable housing and the dynamics of the publicly supported housing market. Chabot said while Sears wasnt the first or only company to sell mail-order homes, they were unique among the competition. [17] Later on in the Modern Homes timeline, Sears had in-office designers but titled them as "experts" rather than actual architects.[17]. Sears, Roebuck and Company's Modern Homes program began in 1908 and ended in 1940. Harbst said it wasnt until after she bought the house that she learned homes were once sold through mail-order catalogs. Sales were down, and there was excess inventory languishing in warehouses. They came in all sizes and price points before buying a ready-made house or building kit of your choosing became relegated to the tiny house movement if you dont have the resources to, Sears Wasnt an Innovator, but They Knew Quality and Efficiency. I think that maybe Google maps Streetview wasn't great quality on many of the streets. New models were introduced every year, and some only stuck around for a couple years. The houses, comprising eight models, were all built in a 12-block area known as the Standard Addition. ), or streets that have houses with no designated house number (yes, again! Other Sears houses were found dotting other areas of La Porte, but the biggest concentration of the early models, probably all from 1912, were in that Lakeview area. 1232 / No. If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. Sears would be listed as the architect, and because they often gave out mortgages, you can find out if the previous owner(s) had a Sears mortgage or not. Its not like nowadays where you move, wait for your stuff to arrive, and if youre a work-at-home like me, youre pretty much unable to work while you wait for a technician to ensure you have Internet access. While these features werent in every single Sears home, they still set the stage for home builders to realize what people wanted in their new digs because of how much their quality of life was improved. Marie gives the perfect explanation of our Sears House hunt, in this. Because the Modern Homes division sales records were destroyed, there is no way to definitively verify the number of Sears houses that still exist. Im looking at this cute little. We cannot be absolutely certain, but the numbers do not support it. Original paperwork for the house including blueprints and letters of correspondence from Sears. It is unknown whether any were purchased or built. They produced three different product lines based on budget: the high-end Honor Bilt homes, Standard Built homes that were popular with young families, and Simplex Sectional low-budget homes that were mostly used as vacation cottages.